nois Rivers, Lakes Michigan and Superior, and their tributaries as far north as the boundaries of the United States extended. The other eight thought that their interest was to remain independent; towards such, the company selected their best traders, and located them in opposition, with instructions so to manage by underselling, to bring them to terms.

At Mackinac, the traders' brigades were organized, the company selecting the most capable trader to be the manager of his particular brigade, which

MISSION HOUSE, MACKINAC

consisted of from five to twenty batteaux, laden with goods. This chief or manager, when reaching the country allotted to him, made detachments, locating trading houses, with districts clearly defined, for the operations of that particular post, and so on, until his ground was fully occupied by traders. under him, over which he had absolute authority.

We will here allude to Mr. Astor's attempt to establish an American emporium for the fur trade at the mouth of the Columbia River, which enterprise failed, through the capture of Astoria by the British in 1814, and the neglect of our government to give him protection. The withdrawal of Mr. Astor from the Pacific coast left the Northwest Fur Company to consider themselves the lords of the country. They did not long enjoy the field unmolested, however. A fierce competition ensued between them and their old rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company, which was carried on at great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the loss of life. It ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the Northwest Company, and merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, in the rival associations.

Ramsey Crooks was a foremost man in the employ of Mr. Astor in the fur trade, not only in the east, but upon the western coast, and has been called "the adventurous Rocky Mountain trader." Intimately connected, as Mr. Crooks was, with the American Fur Company, a slight notice of him will not be out of place. Mr. Crooks was a native of Greenock, Scotland, and was employed as a trader in Wisconsin, as early as 1806. He entered the service of Mr. Astor in 1809. In 1813, he returned from his three years' journey to the western coast, and in 1817 he joined Mr. Astor as a partner, and for four or five years ensuing he was the company's Mackinac agent, though residing mostly in New York. Mr. Crooks continued a partner until 1830 when this connection was dissolved, and he resumed his place with Mr. Astor in his former capacity. In 1834, Mr. Astor being advanced in years, sold out the stock of the company, and transferred the charter to Ramsey Crooks and his associates, whereupon Mr. Crooks was elected President of the Company. Reverses, however, compelled an assignment in 1842, and with it the death of the American Fur Company. In 1845 Mr. Crooks opened a commission house for the sale of furs and skins, in the city of New York. This business, which was successful, Mr. Crooks continued until his death. Mr. Crooks died in New York, June 6, 1859, in his 73d year. Mr. Astor died in 1848.

Washington Irving, in his "Astoria," gives a graphic account of the occasional meetings of the partners, agents and employés of the old Northwest Fur Company, at Montreal and Fort William, where they kept high days and nights of wassail and feasting; of song and tales of adventure and hairbreadth escapes. But of those lavish and merry halls of the old "Northwest," we need suggest no comparison with the agency dwelling of the American Fur Company at Mackinac, where the expenses charged for the year 1821 were only $678.49. In that account, however, we notice the following entries: 314 gallons Teneriffe Wine, 4 gallons Port Wine; 10 gallons best Maderia; 71⁄2 gallons Red Wine; 9 gallons Brandy; one barrel flour!

The following is a list of the wardens or presidents of the borough or village of Mackinac since its incorporation in 1817:

Postmasters in Mackinac since the establishment of the postoffice in 1819. The office was known as Michilimackinac until 1825:

MACKINAC COUNTY CLERKS

Clerks of the county from its organization in 1818:

1818-21, Thomas Lyon.

1822-24, F. Hinchman.

1825-46, Jonathan P. King. 1847-52, P. C. Kevan.

1855-58, John Becker.

1859-63, William M. Johnston.
1864, Charles O'Malley.

1865, John Biddle.

1853-54, William M. Johnston.

ANCIENT NAMES OF RIVERS, LAKES, ETC.

Lake Ontario.-Champlain called it "Lac St. Louis;" Count de Frontenac, in 1647, called it "Ontario;" on Sanson's map, 1679, it appears "Ontario ou Lac de St. Louis;" it had also the name "Frontenac;" Hennepin called it "Ontario or Frontenac;" Tonti and Father Membre called it "Lake Frontenac;" on De L'Isle's maps, 1700 and 1703, it appears as "Lac Ontario."

Lake Erie. This name, says Mr. Baldwin, was derived from the tribe of Eries, on the south shore; the same tribe was also called the Cat nation. Hennepin called it "Erie," also "Conty;" and Sanson's map, 1679, gives it "Erie Lac;" Membre called it "de Conty;" De L'Isle's maps give it "Lac Erie."

Lake Huron.-Champlain called it "Mer Douce;" Father Membre, as well as Hennepin, called it "Lake Orleans;" De L'Isle's maps, 1703 and 1718, give it "Lac Huron ou Michigane;" on his map of 1700 it appears as "L. des Hurons."

Lake Superior.-Marquette's map gives it "Lac Superior ou de Tracy;" Hennepin called it "Lake Conde;" on De L'Isle's maps it is "Lac Superieur;" Senex's map, 1719, and Coxe's, of 1721, call it "Nadouessians."

Lake Michigan.-Marquette, Dablon, and La Salle, called it the lake of the "Illinois;" Claude Allouez, in 1676, reached this lake on the eve of St. Joseph; he said "We give it the name of that great Saint, and shall henceforth call it 'Lake St. Joseph;'" Allouez was the first to give it the name of "Lake Machihiganing;"* La Salle and Father Membre called it "Lake Dauphin;" St. Cosme called it "Miesitgan;" and also "Missigan;" Marest was one of the first to call it Lake Michigan.

Lake St. Clair.-Hennepin wrote it "St. Claire" on the map of De L'Isle, of 1700, it is "L. de Ste. Claire;" on his maps of 1703 and 1718, it appears "Lac Ganatchio ou Ste. Claire." Shea says "it received its name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle reached it on the day consecrated to her."

Mississippi River.†-One or more of the outlets of this river was discovered in the year 1519, by the Spanish officer, Don Alonzo Alvarez Pineda; he named the river "Rio del Espiritu Santo." De Soto named it "el Rio Grande del Florida." Marquette, on his map, gave it the name "de la Conception;" he also used the name Missippi." La Salle, Membre, Hennepin, and Douay called it the "Colbert;" Joutel said the Indians called it

*NOTE. The name as spelled by Alloucz comes nearest the Indian pronunciation, which is Mashiiganing or Mishiiganing, the double i being pronounced é-é. The term signifies "a clearing," and was first applied to the northwestern shores of Lower Michigan where there were large ancient clearings. [See Appendix.]

NOTE. The name of the river, in the principal Algonquin dialects, is "Mishisibi," (pronounced Me-she-se-be) meaning "large river."

"Meechassippi;" but he called it the "Colbert" or "Mississippi;" on De L'Isle's map it is "Mississippi;" and "S. Louis;" Allouez first speaks of it as "Messipi" and again as the "Messi-sippi;" St. Cosme calls it "Micissipi."

The translation "Father of waters" is a poetical license.

Missouri River.-Marquette called it the "Pekitanoui," meaning muddy water; the Recollects called it "the River of Ozages;" Membre called it the "Ozage" on De L'Isle's maps, 1703, 1718, it is "le Missouri ou de R. Pekitanoni;" Coxe called it "Yellow River; or, River of the Massorites."

Ohio River.-Marquette called the lower Ohio "Ouabouskigou;" Joutel called it "Douo, or Abacha," from the mouth of the Ohio to the Wabash, and up that stream was known as the "Ouabache;" so it was called by Membre, St. Cosme, and La Hontan. Above the Wabash, the Ohio was more particularly known as "Ohio ou Belle Riviere;" the river is so called on De L'Isle's map, 1703. Evans, in 1755, calls it "Ohio or Allegheny or La Belle."

Illinois River.-Marquette speaks of it, but gave it no name; on Franquelin's map it appears "Riviere des Ilinois ou Macopins;" La Salle called it the "Seignlai;" Fathers Hennepin and Membre the "Seignelay!" Dablon not only applied to one of the upper branches of the Illinois (the Desplaines) the name "St. Louis," but to the continuation, the Illinois itself; Coxe called it the "Chicagou;" De L'Isle's map, 1718, gives it "Rio des Illinois."

Des Plaines River.-La Salle, in 1680, called the Des Plaines the "Divine River;" Membre and Charlevoix did the same. La Salle afterward, however, called it the "Checagou." Dablon called it "St, Louis River," including, perhaps, the continuation, the Illinois; Franqeulin's map, 1684, gives it "Peanghichia." The river was frequently called the "Chicagou;" see De L'Isle's map, 1718, and D'Anville's, 1755.

Chicago, and River.-Marquette called it "Portage River;" La Salle applies the name "Checago" to this locality, but his Checago River was generally the Des Plaines; Franquelin's map, 1684, gives the locality or river the name of "Cheagoumeinan," and to another stream "R. Chekagou;" Tonty, in 1865, says that he arrived at the "Fort of Checagou." St. Cosme calls it "Chikagou," "Chicagu," "Chicaqeu," and also "Chicago;" La Hontan, 1703, has it "Chegakou;" Senex, 1710, gives it "Checagou;" De L'Isle's maps have it "Checagou," also "Chicagou;" Moll, 1720, gives it "Chekakou;" Charlevoix, "Chicagou;" Col. De Peyster speaks of it as "Eschecagou" and again as "Eschicagou," a river and fort at the head of Lake Michigan. Popple's atlas, 1733, has it "Fort Miamis ou Ouamis;" Mitchell, 1755, "R. and Port Chicagou," and Sayer and Bennett's map, 1797, says "Point Chicago River."

Sandusky Bay. On De L'Isle's map, 1718, it appears "Lac San-douske." Saginaw Bay.-On De L'Isle's maps, 1703 and 1718, it appears "Baye de Saguina," and "Baye Saguinam;" Coxe called it the "Sakinam."*

The Sacs lived on the Saginaw and Titibewassee before removing to Wisconsin.

Patterson's Point.-A rocky point of land on the north shore of Lake Michigan, some sixty miles from Mackinac is so called, from the fact that Mr. Charles Patterson, one of the principal members of the Northwest Fur Company, with all his crew, was there drowned about the year 1788.

*NOTE. "Osaginang, or "Osakining, is the Indian name, derived from "osagi" or “Osaki.”